How to stop broken ribs from hurting when you sneeze.

I broke a rib three weeks ago when riding my bicycle up at Lake Tahoe. Once before I broke some ribs, about 45 years ago while chasing rabbits with my dogs. That time I fell and hit a mound of dirt with my chest, and broke two ribs in the front and two in the back. A trip to the emergency room was in order after that interesting event where the doctor confirmed my suspicions of internal injury. Externally there was nothing much to show, but a little poking about and an x-ray confirmed my worries. The doctor offered me several options: a full body plaster of Paris cast, a chest wrapping and maybe some other things or as an alternative, to just ignore the pain, and be very, very careful for a few weeks. He gave me some pills, mostly so I could go to sleep when lying down, and I was out the door and on my way home. The next few weeks were filled with caution and soft speaking. I couldn’t pressurize my lungs to talk much above a whisper, and couldn’t even whistle softly without it hurting. Occasionally it is necessary to cough, but I soon found out that that is a big mistake when you have some broken ribs. And sneezing is a truly memorable experience!

This time the cracked rib wasn’t nearly so serious, just one middle rib in the middle, so I didn’t even bother to bother a doctor with my travails, and have chosen to simply be very careful. Coughing can usually be suppressed with a conscious effort, but sneezing is much more difficult to control, and when it happens it is astonishingly painful and possibly dangerous. In this case the problem was a minor crack, and after two weeks it didn’t hurt much and now three weeks later I have to press directly on the rib for it to hurt. So what did I learn from all of this which I can pass on the the wonderful world of the Internet?

Wrapping the rib cage with a non-stretching tape would prevent the chest from expanding when coughing or sneezing. An Ace flexible bandage would be inappropriate for this use because it would expand when sneezing. A two inch wide packing tape which is non-stretchy is what is needed. One wouldn’t want to put this kind of tape directly on the skin for a couple of weeks, but if you wore a close fitting undershirt and put the tape on the outside of the shirt all the way around the rib cage, probably two complete circuits, it should not be too irritating. The tape should be the two inch wide kind and go around the ribs once plus, a minimum of six inches overlap. The undershirt should be adjusted so the tape would go directly over the crack in the rib. This is obviously an experimental procedure so you are on your own. If you think you have a broken rib go immediately to your doctor.

With the tape over the cracked rib the ribcage won’t expand much when you sneeze. It will still hurt, but the sneeze shouldn’t be able to separate the broken bone.

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20 thoughts on “How to stop broken ribs from hurting when you sneeze.”

Thanks! I hurt my rib some 5 days ago and never went to the doctor. I was kind of worried there may b something really bad with it, until I read you comment. So, I’ll just wait for the pain to go away. Once again – thanks :)

Dear Nat
If you think you should see a doctor, go immediately and never mind what I said about my personal experiences and recommendations. That said – your description sounds endurable and the doctor probably wouldn’t do anything other than give you a few generic pain pills. Sneezing is the big problem for most cracked rib victims, and my blog post was about suppressing sneezes and limiting the ribs to a modest expansion during a sneeze.

I took a fall last weekend and the following day I felt as though I probably just bruised one…painful, but no serious pain.

On Monday, I was sitting at my computer and I sneezed. I felt, (and heard), a pop, and the pain was excruciating!!! I thought for a few minutes I was about to faint! I don’t know if perhaps I had cracked the rib, but not completely broken it…then when I sneezed it broke all the way or what? All I know is that I haven’t ever experienced anything like that!

I did go to the doctor and xrays confirmed the break. I’ve coughed a few times and it’s very painful. I’m PRAYING that I can suppress a sneeze if one comes on! I’m trying to keep something handy that I could at least wrap around me in the event I feel one coming on. I haven’t tried the Chloraseptic trick…but I have to keep that in mind.

Chris I empathize with your pain, but of course you feel it. I did learn not to chase rabbits with my dogs by running with them across grassy fields. The first minute was fun, but the next month wasn’t nearly so much fun.

While this experience is still fresh in your mind would you go tohttps://probaway.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/pain-hurts-but-what-is-it-that-hurts/
and print out the pain charts. You can back date the recovery times from the moment of the initial injury. Also, create a second line of dots on the recovery chart based at the instant of sneeze. There is enough space to write a short note at each of the timed observations.
The moment of sneeze may reach a PAINS~12 but come back to a PAINS~6 in only a minute and PAINS~3 in an hour. This information would be really valuable to new sufferers of similar injuries. They would know how better to prepare for the various problems.
I suspect that a sneeze on the third week, will have a much quicker recovery than a sneeze on the first week, but that needs to be tracked and graphed.
Your fellow researcher in broken ribs – Probaway

Chris, exactly, I mean exactly what I felt when I sneezed Monday morning. I first broke/cracked/fractured (ER says) my rib when coughing from a cold and have been healing slowly since middle of January. 2 days ago I sneezed and felt that pop and the pain. All my healing went down the drain. I have started again from day 1.

You CAN suppress a sneeze. It is a very very difficult thing to do, you get just to the point of the climax but can stop it. The problem is, you really really want to finish it because sneezes really do feel good (“What was that?” “I don;t know, but I want another” from 3rd Rock from the Sun. But sometimes you cannot stop it and the pain is excruciating.

I hope you are healing. I find that 600mg Ibuprofen (Rx from the ER) every 6 hours takes much of the pain away except for the coughs and sneezes. Don;t take it for very long though as it can cause kidney damage over the long haul. Call and talk to a pharmacist if you want reassurance on its dosage and use.

I fell 3 days ago and I cracked 2 ribs clean. Very painful! I am just going to grin and bear it. I am a contactor and the business doesn’t stop for me. Tylenol and Asprin don’t even touch it! Just have to deal with it and I think that keepiing busy and some moving around actually helps. The first 3 days I iced it annd that really helped. Gotta let it heal though and try to maintain dail activity.

I too broke several ribs about 3 weeks ago by falling down my basement stairs. One rib is what they call “displaced”, as it’s broken clean through and one end is sitting on top of the other. The doctor told me they never bind broken ribs anymore because, no matter how painful it is, it’s important to breathe deeply, so as not to develop pneumonia. I sneezed 2 weeks after my fall and it was excrutiating. Now I feel the cracklings around the injury area again that had seemed to have healed up, and it feels like something is continually poking me in the side, which I guess it is! To suppress a sneeze, I’ve found it works to pinch my nose or just press hard, and up, right under my nose. Has anyone found their rebroken ribs haven’t rehealed? I’m afraid my two loose ends will heal as two separate bones.

Dear Brokenrib My ribs hurt a lot for about a week after my fall, whenever I moved, but only when I made sudden movements for the next week, and by the third week, they only hurt when I coughed, and by the fourth only when I sneezed. My idea about the packing tape around the outside of a tee shirt, (like a belt) was to inflate your lungs a little above normal inspiration before the taping. That way you could breath normally but when you sneezed the ribs could only expand a little. It would still hurt but wouldn’t re-crack the rib. My ribs were broken both in the front and back, but only cracked and not separated, but they hurt so much I couldn’t whistle even very softly. Get Well Soon

Chris I empathize with your pain, but of course you feel it. I did learn not to chase rabbits with my dogs by running with them across grassy fields. The first minute was fun, but the next month wasn’t nearly so much fun.

While this experience is still fresh in your mind would you go tohttps://probaway.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/pain-hurts-but-what-is-it-that-hurts/
and print out the pain charts. You can back date the recovery times from the moment of the initial injury. Also, create a second line of dots on the recovery chart based at the instant of sneeze. There is enough space to write a short note at each of the timed observations.
The moment of sneeze may reach a PAINS~12 but come back to a PAINS~6 in only a minute and PAINS~3 in an hour. This information would be really valuable to new sufferers of similar injuries. They would know how better to prepare for the various problems.
I suspect that a sneeze on the third week, will have a much quicker recovery than a sneeze on the first week, but that needs to be tracked and graphed.
Your fellow researcher in broken ribs – Probaway

To suppress a sneeze if you can feel one coming and it’s not an instant rib cracker – rub your nose vigorously from top to bottom, around the tip and middle until well after the sensation disapates. This works for me most of the time, but I’ve had some unexpected sneezes due to bright sunlight and one re-fractured my nearly healed rib…at least the pain is not as bad as at first…

Sounds silly, but I notice that if instead of “achooo!”( with the air coming more from my upperchest), I make it a practice to sneeze with an “achaaaa! (and force more air from my lower diaphram) I have delightfully reduced the sharp pain.

My ribs were injured July 4th on a fall on the end of my bicycle handlebar.

My cracked ribs happened when I was almost stopped dead-still on my bike and fell over sideways, the problem was that my computer was in my backpack which shifted to between me and the ground and my extended arm wasn’t long enough. So, the computer wedged between the ground and my ribs, and both my computer and two ribs were broken. I am more careful now, but in some instantaneous situations my adolescent aggressive habits spring instantly into action. Old habits never really vanish, they are just waiting for the right stimulus. Your learning to sneeze in a more gentle way may help you out in the distant future. Good Luck

I find these comments very interesting. Three years ago I had a lot of pain in the rib area and my doctor put me in for a bone scan. He called me immediately and admitted me to the hospital. The scan showed I had eight broken ribs and my doctor shared when he released me from the hospital he was sure I had bone cancer. Thank the good Lord I don’t.These bones are still fractured and hurt a lot. I have been to five specialists and they don’t know why they won’t heal. I am on twenty four hour morphine to kill the pain I am seventy four years of age and hope I have a few years left. We really can’t figure out what broke them and my bone Dr. said I need a hip replacement but he doesn’t want to take a chance on it not healing if he does this.

i fell the other day and badly bruised my right side ribs now those dont hurt much now its all transferred to the left over the course of a day and half

what do you think will help a stuffed nose. cause anytime i try sniffling to clear the nose as the stuff is dry stuff not wet….. insights same pain no matter if i use a pillow for support. so thought maybe an antihistamine may do the trick as it does normally for a different issue which i feel is more nerve based then actual stuffed nose (i have facial nerve damage since 2008 jaw surgery to fix my bad overbite ever since if i sleep on 1 side then that side nasal area clogs and wakes me – antihistamines stop this)

walking, stuffed nose needing to be cleared and deep breathing hurt most BUT basically everything does makes em hurt. i dont do well with flared pains as i have chronic pain from nerve damage in face, possible fibromyalgia, pelvic pain due to who knows what (yet). so these ribs that hurt are just causing all over to hurt more then usual